Stray Kids Bang Chan unfairly condemned for asking junior idols to show manners

On May 14th, Stray Kids member Bang Chan held a live broadcast on his group’s official YouTube channel. During this, international fans started to inquire Bang Chan about his experience at the KBS 2TV music program “Music Bank in Paris”, to which the male idol answered, “Music Bank in Paris was really great. It was even better because we went to Paris after a long time.”

However, Bang Chan also shared his honest thoughts about the “greeting culture”. He began by humbly referring to himself as a “Boomer” (a term for old-fashioned people of the past generation), and stated, “Because our generations are different, I might seem conservative. But I think the greeting culture is no longer a basic manner.” 

“Isn’t it awkward when you greet someone passing by and they don’t greet back? Is this how the current generation normally is?”, Bang Chan questioned, adding, “I think it’s basic courtesy to respond or greet back when someone greets you. I take greetings very seriously.”

Bang Chan has been hosting live broadcasts on YouTube for over four years under the title “Chan’s Room”. It’s a promise to STAY (fandom of Stray Kids), who are curious about Stray Kids’ daily life, and it has been regularly conducted to communicate with fans both domestically and overseas. The live broadcast held on the 14th was the 208th episode of “Chan’s Room”.

However, this particular live broadcast drew the attention of netizens. The reason was because Bang Chan’s thoughts on the culture of greeting seemed to be targeting someone from a junior idol group.

But the reality was different. Bang Chan drew a line, saying, “I’m not trying to insult anyone.” He also responded to real-time comments from fans speculating about the singer who didn’t return his greeting, and said he will not mention any names.

In fact, Bang Chan merely stated his opinion in response to the fans’ questions, clearly distancing himself from “targeting specific artists”.

Despite this, an undeserved controversy has erupted towards Bang Chan. In particular, people on Internet forums have been accusing him of targeting other artists, starting a “witchhunt” among his fandom, and started to use profanities to target Bang Chan and his group.

Above all, Bang Chan’s remarks were perfectly reasonable. In fact, in any country, regardless of generation, greeting is an important courtesy and a common culture.

Source: Daum